General Motors has joined the ranks of Ford, Audi, and BMW in introducing its new car-sharing service, Maven. Fortune reported that Maven is really three car-sharing services in one. First, it is a city based service that rents GM vehicles out by the hour using an app, secondly, it's an app for urban apartment dwellers in New York and Chicago, and lastly it's a peer-to-peer sharing service that began in Germany last year. This isn’t the first time GM has gone out of it’s usual realm of just manufacturing cars. Recently, the motor company paired up with the app Lyft, a service similar to Uber, and invested $500 million in the service.

Maven is taking an interesting approach in starting the service, only allowing the service to be used in a few major cities that already have great public transportation systems. They began marketing the product to students in Ann Arbor, Michigan, holding information sessions on how become representatives for the company, explaining how it works, and why it is important for General Motors to invest in this kind of company.

Maven was explained to students as a simpler and cheaper version of Zip Car, with an Uber/Lyft feel to it. General Motors also informed students that is, in a way, trying to curb the use of cars in cities, and in turn enabling the use of public transportation. By providing cheap cars available for rent, people are able to live in the city without owning a car and only renting a vehicle when they need to, and using public transportation when the need is less dire. This is a great marketing technique for General Motors, because people are driving their vehicles and they are enabling cleaner, safer, and more green cities.

The idea behind Maven could be a relief to drivers as well, because with potentially less vehicles on the road, there is less traffic, lessening the chance of a car crash. This also comes at a perfect time for the city of Detroit, Michigan, because of the rapid expansion of public transportation that is occurring in the currently city. As The Michigan Law Firm, PLLC blog has informed readers, several bus routes are being extended and the QLine is due to be completed in the next year or so. If an application like Maven could successfully be implemented in Detroit, this would be huge for the public transportation sector of the city and could really cut down on traffic and accidents, due to less drivers on the road and more in public transportation.

Hopefully applications like Maven are successful in decreasing our carbon footprint, increasing public transportation usage in cities, and lessening your likeliness of getting stuck in traffic or into an automobile accident. But, if you have been injured in an auto accident, speak to an attorney at The Michigan Law Firm, PLLC. Our experienced attorneys are highly skilled in helping victims of motor vehicle accidents identify and receive any compensation they may be entitled to, under Michigan law. Call us today, at 844.4MI.FIRM for a free consultation.